Five Tips to Help You Prepare for your Trip to Peru ! By making a few easy preparations before departing for your journey to Peru, you can be assured a much more comfortable stay! The following tips have been (almost) life-savers for me… Buen Viaje!

Book in advance!
Of course not everything needs to be planned in advance…but if you want to see one or more of Peru’s most famous and sought-after sites, you NEED to book beforehand! The best example of this is the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, but also a train tour to Machu Picchu should be booked before arrival, at least in high season. You don’t want to come all the way here just to be disappointed….. The Inca Trail needs to be booked with a travel agency in Cusco 4 to 6 months in advance in high season ( 1-3 months in mid and low season). This, because there is a limit of 500 entries per day, and this includes staff! If you want to trek to Machu Picchu but don´t have 4 to 6 months to plan ahead, you can always check out an alternative treks to Machu Picchu such as the Salkantay, Lares Valley or the ever-popular Inca Jungle Trek!

For the first half of February the highland town of Puno, Peru, near Lake Titicaca at an altitude of 3,870 meters above sea level, becomes the Folk Capital of the Americas. The festival gathers more than 200 groups of musicians and dancers to celebrate “La Fiesta de la Candelaria”. During the first week, the churches are decorated and there are banquets and fireworks displays. Later, the virgin is led through the city of Puno in an impressive procession, when troupes of musicians and dancers take the scene, performing and dancing throughout the city.

The Candelaria festival is linked to the pre-Hispanic agricultural cycles of sowing and harvesting, as well as mining activities in the region. The dance of the demons, or La Diablada, the main dance of the festival, was allegedly dreamt up by a group of miners trapped down a mine who, in their desperation, resigned their souls to the “Virgen de la Candelaria.” The dancers, blowing panpipes and clad in spectacular costumes and outlandish masks, make their offerings to the Earth, “La Pachamama”. Experience the Candelaria Festival in Puno Peru with Dos Manos Travel Agency this February. You can depart with us from Cusco, or meet with us in Puno! Contact us here or write info@dosmanosperu.com for more information and to register! This is a cultural and fun experience that you do not want to miss.

Having flown to Cusco from Lima, I knew that I had missed out a bit of the traditional travellers trail in southern Peru. One place I really wanted to visit over a weekend was Lake Titicaca. Luckily, Dos Manos were able to sort this out around my Spanish classes in Cusco, which was fantastic.

This trip involves 2 overnight buses, which although put me off slightly, was actually extremely comfortable, thanks to the cama seats that were booked for me. I set off at 10pm on a Friday evening, having eaten and got a few snacks for the journey. Rather sleepy, I arrived around 5am in Puno, from where all the trips to Lake Titicaca operate. I was met, and given a choice between breakfasting in the bus terminal or heading to a nearby office to rest some more.

Every year, on the 24th of December the central plaza of Cusco is the decor of the biggest Christmas fair of popular arts: the Santurantikuy market, where hundreds of artisans come from far away to display their beautiful and unique works inspired by the faith in their holy creator.

Santurantikuy literally means “The Selling of Saints” in Quechua, with ‘santu’ meaning ‘saint’ and ‘tikuy’ meaning ‘sale’, hence the often heard phrase of ‘cómprame un santito’ referring to the many saints, angels, wise men, pastors and other religious clay figurines used for altarpieces and nativity scenes. Without a doubt, the main character and emblematic patron of the Andean Christmas fair is ‘el Niño Manuelito’, better known as baby Jesus.

The figure of Manuelito is often represented as a white boy with eyes out of glass and black hair obtained from the first haircut of a newborn baby. Perhaps because el Niño Manuelito or Tayta-Niño has been responsible for thousands of miracles in the Andean community, there is no lack of sentiments and nostalgia at the Santuranticuy fair.

In February the highland town of Puno, nestled on the shores of Lake Titicaca at an altitude of 3,870 meters above sea level, becomes the Folk Capital of the Americas. The festival gathers more than 200 groups of musicians and dancers to celebrate the “Mamacha Candelaria”. For the first nine days, the “mayordomos” (those in charge of organizing the festivities), decorate the church and pay for Mass, banquets and fireworks displays. On the main day, February 2, the virgin is led through the city in a colorful procession comprising priests, altar boys, the faithful, Christians and pagans carefully maintaining the hierarchy. This is the moment when the troupes of musicians and dancers take the scene, performing and dancing throughout Puno.